IS IT A PRINT OR AN
ORIGINAL WORK?: SOME TIPS BEFORE TO ASK FOR AN ART APPRAISAL.

1) The surface.
If someone believes to be in possession of an authentic painting, the
first step is to rub the surface of the work with one’s fingers. If the
surface has some thickness with rugged paint relief, that one is almost
sure to be in the presence of a painting. There are however printing
techniques, designed at the start of the 20th Century in Germany (Oleo
druck), enabling to reproduce a painting with such relieves but the
canvas supporting the work would often look new. All the more there
would be no trace of brush on these reproductions of very little value.
However, new techniques have been designed in the 1950’s by which a
reproduction would show a thick surface with brushstrokes. These
reproductions are often produced with the help of a photography on which
paint would have been added by hand or mechanical wise.

2) Regarding a watercolor, the surface of the paper should have some
grain and not be glossy and flat. In addition, the best way to determine
whether the work is a watercolor or gouache is to wet the tip of a small
cotton ball and to apply it gently on a patch of color. Some color would
then appear on that tip, suggesting that it is a genuine work.

3) Still, some reproductions are heightened with watercolor or gouache.
So it seems essential to use a magnifying glass to detect crayon lines
or a sketch underneath the watercolor. If regular dots are seen, then
the work might simply be a print heightened with colors.

4) If there is a printed copyright mention on the lower left or right
side of the work, then this is surely a print. If there is a signature
in crayon or watercolor, then the work would probably be genuine.

5) Lithography’s and prints. Usually a screen made of dots can be seen through a magnifying glass
with grain traces like sand on the surface. In addition, very small
spots of ink or smudges can be detected on the surface whereas some
lines are so thin that no stroke of a pen could make them. Many prints
bear the mark of the press all along their edges and seem to form a
hollow surface like a kind of intaglio engraving. Not all engravings,
like wood cuts and etchings, have a hollow surface but one can see
clearly printed lines on the surface or even feel them when caressing an
etching. There have been also prints heightened with watercolors which
were quite deceiving and really looking like hand-made works where
printed dots could not be detected. Offset and serigraphic prints are
usually totally flat. Serigraphic works by Andy Warhol were in fact
photomechanical processes whereby an image was reproduced in a limited
edition on a silk screen with the addition of acrylic colors of
different tones which may look like paintings in the eyes of
non-professionals.

6) Sheets of paper could be thick or thin with different grains. Many
forgers have used old sheets to produce works so as to make believe they
had been made during previous centuries.

7) The signature of a painter is not a guarantee that the work being
examined was produced by him. Many forged signatures have been added on
oil works, drawings or watercolors. The same objection applies for
prints. For example, the printed signature of Salvador Dali was often
added on white sheets of paper even before they went to the
lithographer’s studio or worse, such signature or even a forged one, was
added to lithographs. There were also some so-called posthumous
signatures added on certain prints (Magritte for example, by his wife)
by the heirs of many artists.

WARNING: USE OF OUR LETTERHEAD FOR
FAKE AUTHENTICATIONS AND APPRAISALS samples - all use of our name or letterhead
will be prosecuted and reported immediately to the FBI. G. Van Weyenbergh
October 12 - 2007 .No one by the name of Johann Von or Van Weyenbergh , neither
a website Von Weyenbergh Fine Arts as been associated to Van Weyenbergh Fine
Arts in the present or the past. We reported to the FBI the use of our
letterhead with these names since 2007. ( See WARNING above). Any letterhead
with Von Weyenbergh Fine Arts, or signed by an individual named Johann Van or
Von Weyenbergh should be reported to the FBI or contact us immediately. All our
letters have a specific seal with our name. Any letter without this seal is a
forgery